Revelation
by knowlee
Summary: Sure, Rhea had her reasons, but unfortunately those reasons throw any sense that Byleth had of her existence out the window. Although she knows Rhea was wrong in her decisions, it still takes a little reassurance from Claude to show that she's more than just what Rhea meant for her to be. SOME MAJOR GOLDEN DEER ROUTE AND GAME SPOILERS!


**knowlee**\- I swear when I first starting playing this game I didn't expect to get so deep into these two characters as I did. I mean, I already decided at the beginning of the game that I was going to ship the main character with Claude, but as the game progressed I found myself getting even deeper into this ship.

Then I got to the S-support and I died. I was experiencing so much happiness for the two characters that I had to force myself to finish the support scene. Then, THEN the credits part came up and damn, if I shipped Claude/Byleth before, I was definitely going into Claude/Byleth hell now after seeing that ending!

Then after I got done with the game, I started to delve into the fanfiction and fanart of the two characters cause I needed my fix. Then I went to the next logical step and began WRITING a fanfic. (looks over at the other fanfics that I haven't finished yet as well as the original work I haven't even started) *cough*

And while I had seen many people write about post credits and in game stuff like novelizations, I hadn't see too many people do a story on this little part of the game. And the game, quite frankly, I felt kinda glossed over it. I felt a little disappointed by that (much like the fact that I can't pet the cats in the monastery), and thought I'd use that as a subject. And here we are.

I don't know if I'll write anything else for this fandom, but there's always a possibility. :)

~Bye!

* * *

**A Fire Emblem: Three Houses Oneshot Fanfiction**

Revelation

By: Knowlee Raven

* * *

"But I don't get it… The Sword of the Creator that Teach wields doesn't have a Crest Stone." Claude rubbed his gloved hand over his chin in thought. He, Byleth and the head of the Church of Seiros were on the third floor of Garreg Mach Monastery in the Star Terrance garden just outside of Lady Rhea's room. Claude and Byleth had requested an audience with Her Grace and although she was trying to recover from the wounds she had received in their last battle, it was silently known throughout the monastery that she wasn't going to survive, hence why they were bothering her as they were.

Currently, the head of the Alliance was trying to piece together the puzzle that that Rhea had laid out before him and Byleth after she revealed the truth behind the existence of the Heroes' Relics and the Crest Stones. He knew the answer was something he could easily figure out, but it kept eluding him. "So how is Teach able to wield its full power?"

A moment passed before Rhea gave her answer. She stared directly at Byleth as she responded. Her eyes sullen from the wounds plaguing her body. "The Crest Stone of the progenitor god… dwells within your professor."

Claude gasped as his eyes widened and he jerked his whole body towards the woman in question. He could see that she, too, bore the same expression.

"What?" Byleth's eyes widened. The word itself came out as a whisper. Her thoughts were scrambling as she looked at the pale woman before her. '_Was that why I could-? Why she could-?'_ She took in a shaky breath to try and calm her racing mind. Her body went cold at the implication Rhea had made.

Apparently said woman paid no mind to the pair's shocked expressions as she continued on with her story. "After I battled with Nemesis as Saint Seiros, I reclaimed the heart of Sothis." The woman lowered her head as the memories of the long ago battle came to her mind. Her voice trembled as the pain she felt towards remembering her loss coursed through her body again. "I wanted to use that heart to… to resurrect her."

Claude focused his attention back to the green-haired woman as she continued her speech. The reason Rhea gave as to why she wanted the heart were understandable, but knowing that the heart lay within Byleth gave him an uneasy feeling. He frowned at what he feared his gut was telling him where this was going. "Even though I had to do some… questionable things to achieve that goal, I wished to see Sothis… my mother… once more."

Byleth took in a deep breath as she found herself struggling to ask the one question that her mind had finally settled on. Her hands clenched painfully into fists as she desperately tried to keep the growing anger outside of her voice. She really, really hoped that what she thought Rhea had tried to do to her was wrong and not the reality. "You...you placed her heart in me?"

The words Rhea spoke next seemed to dash that hope. "Yes. I believed that if I could resurrect my mother, I could regain all that had been lost..."

Claude tried to get a grasp of his thoughts, but at this point it was difficult for him to do. The dark pit grew deeper in his stomach. It was beginning to look like his gut was right. He breathed out slowly in an attempt to calm himself. "So...that's the truth of it."

Rhea looked back up at Byleth. The words she spoke next completely dashed her hopes that this woman didn't just see her as a vessel for her lost mother. "I suspected that your body housed the consciousness of Sothis. Those suspicions were correct." The woman lowered her gaze, whether to hide from Byleth's growing furious gaze or to fall back into the pain of her loss, she didn't know. "And yet, she merely gave you her power and vanished..."

Byleth's thoughts immediately flashed back to the moment where her and Sothis merged their souls into one almost six years ago. The two had been trapped inside a dark realm with no way to escape except through the power of a god. In order for Sothis to use her power though, she had to merge with Byleth's body for she had none of her own. That merge caused her to have direct access to Sothis' powers and changed her hair and eye color to the luminate green that it was now.

It was after that merge that she remembered Rhea bringing her and her then students at the time down to the Holy Tomb in order to sit upon the throne that she remembered seeing Sothis lazing on sometimes when they talked. A shiver ran down her spine. Was that the moment when she tried to get Sothis to take over? Was that what she meant when she spoke in a disappointed tone when she wondered why nothing had happened when she sat down? Was Sothis taking over meant to be the revelation she referred to?

She continued to send her deadpan gaze towards the woman before her as she tried to work out the emotions that continued to rage within her. One thing she felt pride in growing up was that her patience took a very long time to wear down. Now though, she felt that thread holding her patience in place was getting very close to snapping.

Rhea spoke again, head still hanging in shame. Whether it was from what she did or what she didn't accomplish by trying to get her mother back, wasn't certain. "My dearest wish did not come true… But you did inherit the power of the progenitor god." She looked back up at Byleth with a sad expression. Was she wishing that it was her mother standing there instead of her? Byleth couldn't keep that snide thought from passing through her mind. She was done with this woman. "Now, you must use that power to defeat Nemesis once and for all. Fodlan's blood-stained history… must end."

Byleth took in a deep breath. The tactician part of her mind was telling her that she needed to drop her feelings towards what was revealed and figure out how do deal with the new threat immediately. But her emotional, and frankly, human side of her wanted to confront and question this woman some more. Rhea had given the baseline answers for what they wanted to know, but she still things she wanted, no needed, to know. She briefly remembered Seteth's words to her before she and Claude came to speak to Rhea. Was she truly ready to know the full answer? There was only one way to find out.

"So, back there, in the Holy Tomb when you had me sit on the throne. Was the revelation you had referred to was you hoping that she'd force her way into my body from my consciousness?" She took another deep breath and grit her teeth to try and stop the anger she was feeling from seeping into the words she spoke next.

"Were you hoping that she'd replace me?"

Claude's heart stopped. His gaze switched between the two women before settling on the archbishop. He finally put a name on why he was feeling sick to his stomach earlier. He clenched his fists at the thought of someone replacing Byleth. Especially not when…

He slowly turn his eyes back towards his friend and his gaze softened. If that was the truth and the plan had been successful, it would instead be Sothis standing beside him, not Byleth. He took in a deep breath as he realize that the worst part would've been that Byleth would still look like herself, but the soul inside, wouldn't be hers, the soul who he had grown close to during the short time they spent together, the soul he had become close friends with, the soul he had... fallen in love with. It wouldn't be her... it would be someone else entirely. He forced his eyes shut in an attempt to stop those stream of thoughts.

No.

No one could replace her.

` The slight disdain he felt for Rhea before grew into something a bit darker. Byleth wasn't just some vessel for some god, she was so much more than that. He was grateful that her father, Jeralt, had the sense to get her out when he did or else, Rhea probably would've succeeded in her mission.

He took in a deep breath to calm his heavy heart. Perhaps it truly was fate that they met, lest Byleth wouldn't exist anymore.

The two stood in silence waiting for the archbishop to speak. Byleth's patience was growing even thinner with every second. "Well?" She crossed her arms in front of her in an attempt to keep herself from lashing out. She needed her answer. Now.

Rhea breathed out slowly, closing her eyes as she finally responded. "… yes. I was hoping to that her spirit would enter her Crest Stone and that it would allow her to exist through you." She breathed in deeply and return her gaze towards Byleth. She could see that the woman was attempting to look guilty, but she could tell that her eyes weren't reflecting what she was saying. "I'm… sorry that I wanted that."

"No..." Claude and Rhea looked at Byleth who still had her gaze set firmly on the woman before her. Her eyebrows furrowed together to form an angry glare. "You're only sorry that it didn't work." Rhea turned her sight away from Byleth as she continued on. "I'm sorry that you lost your mother to such a horrible person and in such a horrible way, but that still doesn't make it right to use someone like you planned on doing. I am my own person and I deserve to be treated as such."

Byleth briefly flitted her gaze to Claude before turning it back to Rhea. "During my time here, I may have been used by others for my battle prowess and maybe even perhaps for my status as possessing Sothis' powers, but the difference between that and this, is that in the end, they wanted me as who I was. Not for who they hoped for me to become. They didn't want to trade my soul for someone else's. I was enough for them."

Byleth turned on her heel and began to walk out of the garden, but not before stopping at the door to send Rhea one last glare. "For you, however, I wasn't enough."

And with that, she was gone.

* * *

Well, his flabber was completed gasted. He knew questioning Rhea would lead to some mind-blowing revelations, but he definitely wasn't expecting all of what came out of her mouth. He wanted to think further on it, but first, he had to make sure that Byleth was alright. He could easily tell by looking at her, as well as how she spoke to the archbishop, that she was disturbed by the revelations. Especially in regards to the one about the goddess' heart being within her. Claude caught up to her quickly at the foot of the stairs on the second floor after he gave Rhea a brief, albeit pointed, farewell. He gently grabbed the crook of her right arm in concern. "Hey, are you alright, my friend?"

Her breath came out shakily. "...I don't know."

Claude could tell that she needed someplace quiet to vent out her frustrations and that it needed to be quick. A mental map of the monastery came to his mind as he tried to figure out where to go. Their rooms were too far away from here and while the library or conference room was closer and could work, there was still a chance that someone would walk in there and interrupt them. He knew Byleth didn't want to let people see her let loose with her emotions. Plus the information that they had just learned from Rhea was something that needed to be kept between them. Then suddenly, like he had been hit with a thunder spell, he thought of a place to go.

"Come with me." He kept his grip on her arm and led her to the office that once belonged to her father before he was killed years ago. After the two were safely inside the room, he let go of her and moved to close the doors, locking them firmly. He turned his attention back to Byleth.

"Te-…, Byleth?"

Byleth took a look around as she took a few steps further into the room. She glanced at the bookshelf that once held her father's diary as well as the desk that he would sit in during his brief time he was here with her. The combination of the information she had just received about herself along the memories she had with her father in this room slightly overwhelmed her. Byleth took another shaky breath as she felt a tear streak down her face. She wiped it away quickly. Although she knew she had a right to, this was not the time to break down. "Am I nothing but an empty shell?"

Confused, Claude moved away from the door and closer to her. He wasn't sure he heard her right. "Byleth?"

She took a deep breath and slowly turned around to face him. Sadness etched on her face. "Am I nothing but an empty shell?"

Claude's eyes widened. Surely, she didn't think-! He took her hands that were hanging limply by her side into his own. "No," He shook his head to emphasize his words, "you are so, _so_ much more than that. No one here thinks that of you. Sure, Rhea make think so, but her opinion of you doesn't matter. The only opinions that do are that of the Knights, the members of the Golden Deer and my…" His throat went dry and he swallowed to keep help keep his voice even. "...my own. We don't see you as that. And neither should you." He went quiet after that. Although he really wanted to continue his spiel and tell her exactly how he felt, he was still too much of a coward in that regard to say it.

Byleth was a little taken aback by the tenderness Claude held in his voice. That was certainly something she wasn't expecting. At the same time however, she wasn't surprised and was comforted by his words. They, including the rest of the Golden Deer, had been through so much together that she knew that no matter what happened, she could trust him. It was like she told Rhea before she left her (and probably wouldn't ever see her again, taking her health into account). She knew that in a way Claude was using her to achieve his own goals for the world, he had said as much to her (albeit not directly) shortly after they saw each other again when she woke from her five year slumber.

The difference though was that he didn't just see her as a means to an end. (Maybe he did at one point, but she knew that it wasn't the case now, based on how he treated her since they reunited.) He saw her as a person and even valued her opinions on things. Things like religion, his schemes he would come up with and even his dreams for the future. Dreams that he had hinted at wanting to share with her. She struggled to fight down the blush she felt forming at that one.

Instead she sighed and moved her lips into a small smile. "I know deep down that I'm not, but, I guess, I just needed to hear that from someone else to make sure of it." She squeezed his hands. "Thank you."

Claude searched her face to make sure she wasn't lying to him. But he knew that expression on her face wasn't her lying one. He smiled back. "Anytime, By."

As the two slowly released one another's hands, Byleth took a step back. She quickly gathered her thoughts so that they wouldn't continue to dwell in that dark place. "I guess we need to work on how to deal with Nemesis, now that he has decided to return from the dead."

Claude chuckled. Although he was hesitant to let the issue drop and he knew Byleth still needed to work out what was revealed to her, he also knew that the best way she figured things out was through work. He decided not to push her further. "Indeed. Why does it feel like every time we think we got this whole 'peace' thing set in stone, something always comes up to tell us otherwise?"

He smiled when he heard her laugh. "Although honestly, I think this may be the final FINAL battle."

She returned his smile. Her eyes lit up at the banter they were sharing. "I think you may be right. Of course though, the real final battle may be what comes after. I may not be politically savvy, but I know from what I've seen with your interactions with the other nobles that that is a war itself."

He groaned and rubbed his forehead in annoyance at the thought. "Don't remind me.."

Her grin grew bigger. "Either way, we need to get started on this plan. If the stories are true and it really is Nemesis we're dealing with, he'll definitely have an upper hand on us in terms of being prepared. He's had a much longer nap than I've had."

Claude laughed heartily at the joke. He didn't get to see Byleth's snarky side a lot, but when it came out, it was a beautiful sight to see.

Byleth moved to walk around him towards the doors, not knowing that his gaze followed her. She quickly unlocked them and opened one door to start heading to the conference room to begin her planning. They couldn't afford to lose too much time. She turned her head back towards him. "Are you coming?"

Claude shook his head. "I'll catch up with you in a few moments. My mind's still a little blown by the information we learned today."

She nodded. "Alright, but don't take too long. We need to get a plan together before he gets here. We don't need to wait last minute to plan for this."

"Oh, definitely. I promise I won't take too long."

She nodded again and walked through the open door into the hallway. Claude listened as her footsteps got further away and once he was sure that he couldn't hear them anymore, he reached down into the sash that wrapped around his waist to pull out a silver ring adorned with one large emerald and a few smaller ones to the sides of the larger one.

He thought back to the question she had posed to him when they first entered this room. He gripped the ring a little harder when he remembered the look on her face when she asked. No, she definitely was not an empty shell waiting to be filled with someone else's soul. She had her own soul, a beautiful one at that, and didn't need someone else's to make her a whole being. She was perfect just the way she was and he wouldn't change that for anything. Not even his dreams.

With a sigh, he quietly pocketed the ring and began to head for the conference room. After the war, he would _definitely _make sure she knew that. For certain.


End file.
